Want to know how to say the colors in Korean? You came to the right place! Whatever your favorite color is, we’ll teach you the words you need to know.

In addition to the different color words in Korean, there are some examples and special uses that you’ll definitely want to know. These situations appear in Korean language, culture, music, and everyday life all the time.

Learn a few color words, and you’ll be recognizing and using Korean more than you might expect!

Are you ready to brighten your day with Korean colors? Let’s get to it!

In this lesson, we’ll explain the words and phrases using both Hangeul (Korean Alphabet) and in romanized English. If you don’t know Hangeul, you can get a free guide here and learn how to read in less than 1 hour.

Color in Korean

In the Korean language, you can use the words for colors in a few different ways, which also means the specific color word used may differ. Before we dive any deeper into the lesson, let’s learn the most basic word you’ll need first: color.

색 (saek)

color

You’ve now learned that the word for ‘color’ is 색 (saek)! When naming the color in its basic form, you’ll add the word 색 (saek) after the color. For the sake of moving on, we needed to learn 색 (saek). Let’s learn its use with the vocabulary below.

List of Colors in Korean

Below is a list of the various shades of colors in Korean. They’re great words to know and incorporate into your plan for learning Korean. For more essential Korean words you should learn, go here.

 

검정색 (geomjeongsaek) = black

파란색 (paransaek) = blue

갈색 (galsaek) = brown

밤색 (bamsaek) = dark brown

금색 (geumsaek) = gold

회색 (hoesaek) = gray

초록색 (choroksaek) = green

주황색 (juhwangsaek) = orange

분홍색 (bunhongsaek) = pink

보라색 (borasaek) = purple

빨간색 (ppalkansaek) = red

은색 (eunsaek) = silver

하얀색 (hayansaek) = white

노란색 (noransaek) = yellow

Using colors as adjectives and noun modifiers

Here it may get tricky because when used as adjectives and noun modifiers, you won’t keep 색 (saek) attached, while for others you will. Here are the colors that lose the word 색 (saek) when used as an adjective:

까만 (kkaman) = black

파란 (paran) = blue

빨간 (ppalkan) = red

하얀 (hayan) = white

노란 (noran) = yellow

You’ll notice that the word for “black” in Korean changes based on how it’s used. In the Korean language, these words exist in their basic adjective verb form, which is -ㅎ다. In use, is -ㅎ다 is replaced by -ㄴ. The color words that continue to use 색 (saek) do not have such a form.

If you want to describe something to be a specific color, you can attach 색 (saek) with the 이다 (ida) verb. To illustrate clearly how the color words work in sentences, check out some examples below.

 

Example sentences

오늘 내 하얀 드레스를 입을 거예요. (oneul nae hayan deureseureul ibeulgeoeyo)

I will wear my white dress today.

 

그 보라색 가방이 제꺼예요. (geu borasaek gabangi jekkeoeyo)

That purple bag is mine.

 

제가 제일 좋아하는 색은 노란색이에요. (jega jeil joahaneun saegeun noransaegieyo)

My favorite color is yellow.

You may want to use these examples along with common Korean phrases, or to help you better understand parts of Korean grammar, such as Korean particles and markers.

We hope we managed to pleasantly surprise you with this lesson, and you learned many new things about colors in Korean! Now we’d love for you to try and show your newfound color skills.

So, tell us: What’s your favorite color? Is it blue, red, brown, green, or orange? Or maybe you like gray and pink! Let us know in the comments below, and try to make a sentence in Korean if you can!

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